Economics

Economics Alumni/ae

Alumni/ae, please help us keep this up to date. E-mail either the department at econ@iwu.edu, or any of the faculty with your latest news (regular mail also works).

2014

Alexandra Bechtel '14, is currently an Analyst at DigitasLBi, a mainly digital advertising agency in Chicago. Works on the MillerCoors account to analyze the effectiveness of different advertising campaigns. Role includes researching and analyzing multiple social media outlets for Miller Lite, Miller High Life, and Miller Fortune. Specifically, provides weekly and monthly insights to MillerCoors about how various campaigns are performing and where the budget should be allocated to be most effective.

Keanan Koppenhaver '14, is currently working with doejo, a creative agency in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago as a web developer.

Kent Larson '14, works in the underwriting department of CNA financial. CNA Financial is a corporate insurance company headquartered in Chicago but has offices globally.

Claudia Petcu '14, is working as a paralegal for the Legal Team of UCI-FRAM Group.

Shane Rische '14, graduated in 2014 and is currently working as a Market Risk Management Analyst at CME Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange). Day to day activities includes monitoring the trading activity for eight of the company's clearing members and overseeing $67 billion in assets between the eight firms.

2013

Graham Boden '13, is currently in Japan on the Japan Exchange & Teaching Program.

Tara Gracer '13, is enrolled in a Master of Science program in Geography and Environmental Resources at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Will Lawrence '13, is currently a second year law student at the University of Virginia.

Liz Liubicich '13, is a financial analyst at Allstate Insurance.

Onyinye Udenze '13, is currently enrolled in a Master of Management Program at Duke.

Ben White '13,is currently works for Zero Waste Logistics, a small logistics consulting/ staffing firm in Bloomington.

2012

Devin Long '12, after graduation, moved to Greenville, SC to work for a company called ScanSource. Spent two years in the finance department, where main responsibilities included underwriting and designing customized alternative financing solutions to meet customers' needs. In July, moved into ScanSource's purchasing department, responsible for analyzing usage trends to ensure an appropriate inventory levels.

Tung Hoang '12, worked for an educational start up company in NYC for 6 months. After which, moved back to Chicago and worked for the University of Chicago as a Financial Analyst, and most recently, as a Market Data analyst.

Jake Mann '12, is currently the Assistant Editor of Insider Monkey, LLC.

Usman Siddiqui '12, started out working as an IT developer at a software engineering firm and is currently works at JP Morgan in their I banking division as a financial analyst and Rapid Application Developer.

Cory Sloan '12, is currently working for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the Financial Instituions Specialist training program.

2011

Paige Maynard '11, is currently working for Accenture in their management consulting practice doing cross sectional analysis.

Jake Nord '11, currently trades commodity futures with a focus in the precious metals.

Deming Payne '11, after graduation took a job as a stock broker with Charles Schawb and is currently working for a subsidiary of the company called optionsXpress doing options and futures trading. Now works as a financial consultant in the north suburbs of Chicago. Currently has Accredited Asset Management Specialist designation as well.

Kyle Portnoy '11, after IWU started working at Compass Lexecon in Chicago focusing on economic consulting. After a year with Compass Lexecon, he attended the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. After 2 years in the program, took a position at Dimensional Fund Advisors in Austin, TX.

2010

Suman Gautam '10, is currently working on his PhD degree at Penn State University in Energy Management and Policy.

Kelsey Hample '10, is currently a PhD candidate in economics at North Carolina State University.

Kristen Slamar'10, after graduation, completed a post-baccalaurate program in Mathematics at University of Pennsylvania, then earned my Masters' in Mathematics Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. I'm now a teaching fellow with The New Teacher Project. I teach 8th grade Mathematics at a Title 1 school in Phoenix, AZ.

Lindsey Haines '10 graduated with a Masters in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012 and has since been working as a Project Manager for Full Circle Communities, a non-profit affordable housing developer based out of Chicago, IL.

Teodora Petrova'10 started working as a Commercial Credit Analyst for a Commercial bank and then moved into Asset Management/ Investment management as an Associate Portfolio Manager and is working on obtaining the CFA designation by studying for the CFA Level II exam.

2009

Anna Konradi '09 graduated from U of I's College of Law this past year, and has started as a litigation associate at Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis.

Katie Stankiewicz '09 is currently working as the Marketing Assistant for Northwestern University Athletics.

2008

Quentin Brummet '08, is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Economics at Michigan State University.

Lane Coonrod '08, is working at The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., in Hartford CT, as Director of Research and Predictive Analytics.

Bryan Duling '08, worked within the Transfer Pricing group of Ernst & Young at Chicago, IL for two years. In 2010 he returned to IWU as an Admissions Counselor.

Jesse Furmanek '08, is currently working at Northern Trust as an Associate Product Manager for exchanged-traded funds while pursuing his law degree at DePaul College of Law.

Dan Haeger '08, is currently attending graduate school in Material Science at UC Santa Barbara.

Jim Kjelland '08, works as a Financial Analyst for Allstate Insurance in Northbrook, IL.

Charles Montgomery '08, works for the Cutler Group trading firm in San Francisco, CA. Charles specializes in equity options.

Daniel Obie '08, has a rotational position at American Chartered Bank.

Stephanie Panozzo '08, worked for a year after graduation as a Marketing Assistant for the First National Bank and Trust of Beloit, WI. In September 2009 she took a position as a Commodity Trader at Abengoa Bioenergy in Chesterfield, MO.

Matthew Sheehan '08, enrolled in law school at Notre Dame University.

Scott Swisher '08, is enrolled in the economics PhD program at UW-Madison battling through the first year. He is a TA for Macroeconomics.

Elizabeth Taylor '08, earned her JD in 2011 from the University of Illinois College of Law at Urbana-Champaign. She is now employed as an Assistant State's Attorney in Champaign County.

2007

Nick Galasso '07, attended the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, IL and was a Juris Doctor Candidate for May 2010.

Brandin Heidbreder '07, is currently underwriting for Country Companies and working towards a Masters Degree to work in financial services.

Brian Jbara '07, enrolled in a masters of education program and served two years in Teach for America in Las Vegas, NE.

Todd Kumler '07, received his Ph.D. in Economics at Columbia University and is now working for Conerstone Research, an economics consulting firm in New York City.

Biniv Maskay '07, worked for a year as a Junior Trader at Icarus Investments in Chicago after which he enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Economics at the University of Kentucky. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Economics at Loras College in Dubuque Iowa and his research interests include economic growth and development and open-economy monetary policy.

Chris Davis '07, joined Van Kampen Investments (who were later acquired by Invesco) as an internal investment wholesaler. After five years on their team, was promoted to a Regional Vice President position with Federated Securities Corp, representing their line of mutual funds to financial advisors in MN, WI, ND, and SD.

2006

Katie Frawley '06, is currently employed as an Economist with the Producer Price Index Program at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, DC. Katie is also attending school part time at George Mason University for a masters in International Commerce and Policy. She lives in Alexandria, VA and coaches softball at the local high school, TC Williams.

Adam Gray '06, is a Senior Systems Analyst at State Farm, Bloomington, IL. He also obtained his MS in Technology-Project Management from Illinois State University (ISU).

John Haugen '06, worked for several years in database marketing in Chicago. As of August 2011, he moved to New York to enroll full time in the MS program in Sustainability Management at Columbia University.

Justin Hendrix '06, is currently attending the University of Chicago pursuing a MS in Computer Science.

James Malic '06, is working for Hewitt Associates and is attending DePaul University's part-time MBA program.

2005

Xun Bian, '05, enrolled in the Masters program in Agricultural Economics at Pennsylvania State University.

Samantha Dietz, '05, planned to work for a year and then attend law school.

Grant Dodds, '05, planned to enter the Peace Corp and then attend law school.

Adrien Gatesman, 05, worked for an event planning start-up in Chicago for a short time after graduation. She later started her career with Hewitt Associates in Pension Consulting, and also worked for Xerox doing similar work. AJ is entering Northwestern University Law School in the fall of 2012.

J.R. Glenn '05, received his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and is currently an Associate and member of the Labor and Employment group at Vedder Price P.C.

Tim Hackmeister '05, has taken a position with Kimberly-Clark.

Adam Houser '05, has taken a position with a small company that trades at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange in the S&P 500 pit. Adam reports that he has mastered the hand signals and hopes to be trading soon.

Stephen Mohrman '05, has entered the Masters program in Accounting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Elizabeth Planas '05, attended Middlebury's intensive summer language program in Spanish after graduation. She then continued her studies in Spain in the fall.

John Pritchard '05, has taken a job with Hewitt Associates in Chicago.

Ana Maria Romero '05, entered the Masters program in Accounting at Notre Dame, after graduation, and took an auditing position with Ernst and Young in Chicago. After about a year, she switched to the Transfer Pricing group, also in Chicago. In Fall 2009, she relocated to New York, joining the Transfer Pricing group focusing on Life Sciences clients.

Andrew Tarman '05, has taken a position with the Prudential Capital Group, as an Investment Analyst in their Corporate Finance Division.

Mandy Thorson '05, has taken a position with Thoma and Associates in Bloomington.

2004

Ranmali Abeyasinghe, '04, returned to Sri Lanka after graduation. She reports that she is working as an investment advisor and sitting for her Chartered Management Accountancy exams (CIMA) as well as her Chartered Financial Analyst exams (CFA).

Iftekhar Ahmed, '04, is working as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Peoria.

George Coontz, '04, has completed his MBA at Loyola University of Chicago, and now works as an economist at State Farm here in Bloomington.

Robbie Gallagher, '04, entered law school at Chicago Kent in Fall 2004.

Mahi Garg, '04, was a Residential Education Director at Washington State University in Pullman for a year after graduation. She is now back in India.

Will Irwin, '04, entered law school at Washington University-St. Louis in Fall 2004.

Satish Lohani, '04, entered the Ph.D. program in Economics at Washington University-St. Louis in Fall 2004.

Alexis Manning, '04, entered the Peace Corp after graduation and was stationed in Nicaragua. She is now back in the U.S.

Svetlin Valov, '04, entered the Masters program in economics at ISU in Fall 2004.

2003

Nimish Adhia, '03, returned to India after graduation. Over the summer, Nimish interned at an economic policy think tank in New Delhi called The Center for Civil Society. In addition, he received his Ph.D. in Economics at University of Illinois, Chicago and is now an Assistant Professor of Economics at Manhattanville College in Purchase NY.

Kory Blumer, '03, is working in Transaction Advisory Services for Ernst & Young in Chicago.

Jamie Davenport, '03, worked as a loan specialist with the Rural Utilities Service at the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. She currently works as an analyst for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Juliana Giraldo O'Connell, '03, worked, after graduation, for Liberty Mutual in Schaumburg, Illinois. She has now moved to Miami Florida where she works for American Express, in their International Bank division.

Dessie Hristova, '03, entered the Ph.D. program in Mathematics at Boston University in Fall 2003.

Matt Melick, '03, worked as a substitute teacher after graduation. He planned to travel to Costa Rica for a month in February and to Europe for another two months beginning in June. Matt is in his third year of law school at Indiana University, set to graduate in May 2007.

Awo Osei-Anto, '03, worked after graduation in Human Resource Outsourcing in the Health and Group Benefits department of Hewitt Associates in Chicago. Awo has been accepted into the Masters in Public Policy program at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago. Her interest is in health care. She planned to begin in Fall 2005.

Andy Rowland, '03, is a Business Analyst in the Defined Benefits area for Hewitt Associates.

Pat Spangler, '03, graduated with high honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law in May 2005. He is currently a senior associate at Vedder Price P.C. in Chicago, where he practices labor, employment, and benefits law.

Rajen Subba, '03, entered the Ph.D. program in Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Fall, 2003.

Melinda Wick, '03, is enrolled in a Prerequisites for Medical School Postbaccalaureate Program. She graduates May 2006. Currently, Lindy works as a Physical Therapy Aide for the company Atletico.

Sameer Zaman, '03, is a tax consultant with Deloitte & Touche in Chicago.

2002

Greg Adamo, '02, attended law school at Chicago Kent, where he reported that his economics background was of great value in his course work. He is now an attorney at Clingen, Callow & McLean LLC. He is also working towards his MBA at the University of Chicago.

Timofey Chekoyev, '02, entered the accounting program at ISU after graduation, after which he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in Peoria. He has since joined KPMG Risk Advisory Services, first in San Francisco, and currently in Seattle.

Amy Cline, '02, attended law school at Florida State University where she earned a J.D. and a Certificate in Environmental Law. Amy has worked as a law clerk at an environmental non-profit firm called LEAF, and at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. She reports that her economics background came in handy in almost every class she took.

Marty Gardner, '02, is working in Chicago for MB Financial Bank.

Andrew Giordano, '02, is working for Chubb Insurance as a Property, Machine, and Marine Underwriter.

Katie Hampson Morris, '02, worked for about a year for Household International in Prospect Heights, IL as a Credit Risk Analyst. In 2003, she took a position with Waddell and Reed in Naperville, IL as a financial advisor.

David Janashvili, '02, worked with Hewitt Associates for about 3 years and then went to business school. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago in June of 2007 with concentrations in Accounting, Finance and Entrepreneurship. He spent his summer as a Summer Associate in Investment Baking with Bear, Stearns & Co. in New York, where he returned full time as an Associate starting in July of 2007.

Mihir Khilnani, '02, is working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Assurance and Business Advisory Services division.

Sam Kwainoe, '02, worked in the Chicago area for Siemens Building Technology as a financial analyst. He is now a Financial Advisor for MetLife.

Justin Leverton, '02, graduated from Indiana University School of Law summa cum laude in May 2005 and is now a lawyer in Indianapolis with the law firm Bose, McKinney & Evans LLP. Justin's main practice areas are business services and commercial lending. He is also the Chief Financial Officer of his investment company, RJR Capital Management LLC.

Anisha Madan, '02, worked for Hewitt Associates in Chicago for two years. In 2004, she took a position as a financial analyst at GE Healthcare Clinical Systems. Anisha will start her part-time MBA at Kellogg School, Northwestern University this fall.

Mindy Mannlein, '02, attended law school at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Kathy-Ann Moe, '02, is a Staff Accountant for The Bankers Bank, in Georgia.

Alison Oliver, '02, attended law school at DePaul, in Chicago.

Jeremy Sandford, '02, entered the Ph.D. Program in Economics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and received his Ph.D. in 2007. Jeremy is now an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Kentucky.

Debbie Slezak, '02, is a manager at one of SBC/Ameritech's Chicago locations. She has recently won a President's Award for achievement.

James Yonker, '02, is a financial advisor for Waddell and Reed in Oak Brook, IL. James has his Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS) certificate and is working towards his Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certificate. He and his wife Lindsay have two sons, Jakob and Lucas.

2001

Sabeen Ali, '01 is the Assistant Director for Career Services at NYU Wagner. In this role, she advises students and alumni on effective career development and job search strategies.

Prior to joining Wagner, Sabeen worked for the Sustainable Energy and Water group at the IFC-World Bank. Before that, she worked in Public Finance at the UBS Investment Bank, where she helped state and local governments issue tax-exempt debt. She also has experience working in economic consulting at Ernst & Young and at non-profits such as the Council on Foreign Relations.

Sabeen earned her MPA from the Kennedy School at Harvard University with a focus on International Development.

Pritam Banerjee, '01, earned a Masters in economics and diplomacy at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi in May 2003. He accepted a fellowship with the Confederation of Indian Industry, WTO Research and Consultancy wing, with Dr. T.K. Bhaumik. He began work towards a Ph.D. at George Mason University in Fall 2004. He spent Summer 2005 interning at the World Bank in Washington D.C. He has also co-edited a book on the WTO: Beyond the Transition Phase of WTO: An Indian Perspective on Emerging Issues.

Lisa Birr, '01, worked as a pricing analyst for Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois. In 2006 she started work for the Global Mining Division as a Commercial Consultant where she administers the company's largest rebate program directed towards the world's largest mining companies. She and her husband, Andy Rader expected their first child in November, 2006.

Julie Dusek, '01, began work in 2001 in International Tax at Andersen in Chicago. In 2002 she joined Deloitte and Touche and switched to the Private Client Advisors tax area.

Alicia Lange Bajt, '01, teaches middle school science, reading, and language arts in Oak Forest, IL. She is also working towards the completion of her Masters of Arts in Education from Saint Xavier University.

Amber Munday, '01, has worked as an Office Manager at Microsoft Corporation since graduation. She is currently attending law school at the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

Adam Palmer, '01, worked at a brokerage firm, Advance Trading, Inc., after graduation. He also signed a contract to play professional baseball in 2002.

Ken Perry, '01, attended law school at the University of Notre Dame.

David Rasho, '01, works as an analyst at Analytic Innovations in Chicago. He has visited campus to speak to the Applied Econometrics class about his company's work.

Nicole Skalski, '01, works in the Internal Audit Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Michelle (Stone) Hall, '01, studied law at the University of Georgia Law School. After law school she joined the law firm of Hanson, Peters, Nye, where she practiced corporate insurance coverage. In 2010, Michelle transitioned from private practice to in-house counsel at Travelers. She works in the Financial, Professional, and Insurance division as Claims Counsel for the Bond & Financial Products department. She handles matters arising under directors & officers, employment practice liability, professional liability, fiduciary, and crime policies. Her work on those matters allows her ro use her economics background daily. She lives in Geneva, Illinois with her husband, Steve, and her son, Matthew, who was born in August 2009.

Steven Strnad, 01, began work at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a consultant. He now works for the McMaster-Carr Supply Company and attends the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Amanda Watson, '01, attended law school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She currently works for Ganan & Shapiro in Peoria.

2000

Otis Carter, '00, graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a dual JD/MBA and is currently an associate in the Private Equity and Leveraged Transactions practice groups at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP in Chicago. He was formerly associate general counsel to Quantum Value Management, LLC, a private equity and venture capital fund located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Dieter Haager, '00, took a position as an auditor with Arthur Andersen after graduation. With the fall of Anderson, he took a "temporary" position with TGI Friday, and ended up managing a $3.5 million restaurant for several years. In 2005, Dieter decided to go back to graduate school after taking some time to travel. In 2005 he traveled through 12 countries and 27 states. He is now applying to MBA programs.

Sunil Jagwani, '00, took a position as an investment banking analyst with Prudential Securities after graduation. Since then, he has worked for CSFB Equity Research, and in spring 2003, he left that position for a prominent hedge fund.

Kris Kaneta, '00, completed his MBA at Duke University in May 2007. Following graduation, he joined General Electric's Experienced Commercial Leadership Program to lead growth initiatives across the organization. After spending a year in business development and strategic marketing at GE Money and GE Corporate, respectively, Kris is now with GE Healthcare's Diagnostic Imaging business, evaluating strategic growth opportunities in outpatient imaging.

Peter Karlis, '00, studied law at Loyola University in Chicago. He also interned for a federal district court judge.

Tom Kirkwood, '00, was a Lead Business Analyst with Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire, IL, after graduation. He has since returned to Bloomington and is working for Accenture.

Alex Kons, '00, went through training to become a commercial pilot.

Elizabeth Kowalski, '00, recently completed her MBA at DePaul University along with a CPA. She is currently working as a litigation accountant consulting on projects ranging from large corporate fraud to auditor's malpractice to damage modeling. She works for a small accounting firm in Chicago, Russell Novak & Co.

Jason Lewis, '00, studied at the University of Southern California for graduate work in accounting, after which he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is now Senior International Financial Auditor for Abbott Laboratories.

Robin Meers, '00, worked for a year as an underwriter for Modern Woodmen of America--a fraternal life insurance company in Moline. She then enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Nate Taulbee, '00, joined State Farm as a Business Analyst. His current work includes coordinating projects and research efforts for State Farm Bank. He is also working toward an MBA and Illinois State University.

Alva Winfrey, '00, received her Masters in Urban Planning and Policy in 2002 from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She works for LaSalle Bank as a Project Specialist, researching, coordinating, and facilitating financial programs for low income populations and coordinating fundraising campaigns for major non-profit organizations.

1999

Melissa Arms Van Dyke, '99, is a Product Manager for Maritz Incentives. She manages the scoping, building, deploying, and marketing of new software products.

Andrew Beath, '99, is pursing a PhD. in Government at Harvard University. He is currently based in Kabul, Afghanistan and is focusing his dissertation research on a randomized evaluation of Government of Afghanistan's National Solidarity Program, which establishes democratically-elected development councils in villages across Afghanistan.

Jaynanne Calaway, '99, graduated from the Masters program at the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and went to work as a human resource management consultant at Towers Perrin in St. Louis. She then joined Tucker Consultants, a start-up human resource consulting firm in St. Louis. Jaynanne currently works at Panera Bread Company in their human resources department.

Justin Etnyre, '99, works for Discover Financial Services as a Project Manager for the Recovery Department of Cardmember Assistance. He has been with Discover since March 2004 doing analytics and modeling. Justin completed his MBA from Roosevelt University with a concentration in MIS in the Summer of 2003. Prior to Discover, Justin held positions at Household International (now HSBC) and Krumm and Associates (now Analytic Innovations).

Patrick Holly, Jr., '99, is working at Hewitt Associates, a health and and pension benefits consulting firm, as a Quality Assurance Manager. He is married to Theresa Trost '99.

Jaclyn Hood, '99, is currently pursuing her MBA at Cornell University with plans to work in the renewable energy/smart grid space upon graduation. This summer she is interning with EnerNOC, a demand response and energy efficiency company, in Boston, MA. Prior to returning to school, she was a project manager in financial service operations for Fidelity Investments and Hewitt Associates.

William Schaub, '99, is a manager for Best Buy.

Jennifer Van Dyke, '99, was a Business Consultant with Arthur Andersen for three years after graduation. In July 2002, she became a Senior Consultant with KPMG Consulting, which became Bearing Point. She later took the position of a manager at the company, specializing in healthcare revenue management consulting. In 2005 Jennifer obtained her Masters in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In August 2007 she took a position with Northwestern Memorial Hospital as a Process Improvement Leader.

1998

Chris Dunlop, '98, is a Divisional Marketing Director with AIG SunAmerica. He is a wholesaler of variable annuities to independent financial advisors for AIG SunAmerica.

Chris Giglio, '98, is a business analyst with Hewitt Associates, a health and and pension benefits consulting firm.

Katie Hundman, '98, works at State Farm as an analyst in real estate investment accounting.

Ashwin Kapur, '98, worked at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was promoted to Vice President. He is currently a Managing Director at Greenwich Capital and is running all Equity Automated Trading.

Nathan Knuffman, '98, completed a Masters in Public Policy program at the University of Maryland, specializing in Environmental Policy. He now works for the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, in Washington DC.

Steve Krull, '98, works for Stein, Roe, & Farnham Institutional Asset Management. He is the Leveraged Loan Trader in the Leveraged Loan Group of the Fixed Income Department.

Bryan McCannon, '98, finished his Ph.D. in Economics at Pennsylvania State University where he has specialized in industrial organization and game theory. In Fall 2003 he became an Assistant Professor of Economics at Elmira College. He does research on product quality, trade embargoes, voting theory, and plant physiology. In 2006 he was voted Faculty Member of the Year by students at the college. In 2008, Bryan returned to IWU to give the ODE address. That fall, he took a position at Wake Forest University, where he taught until 2011. In 2011, he became Associate Professor of Economics at Saint Bonaventure University.

Anjali Shah, '98, is a financial analyst with the U.S. Department of Education. She plans to sit for the CPA exam and to earn an MBA in the future.

1997

David Antolik, '97, is living in London where he works for Phoenix Equity Partners.

Y. Serhan Arcan, '97, worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Corporate Finance and Recovery Services group as an Assistant Manager specializing in valuation advisory and M&A deals. He has completed his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification. Serhan is currently continuing his work at PwC as an Associate Director in Corporate Finance in Dublin, Ireland.

Leslie Ayers, '97, works at State Farm.

Mike Cornstubble, '97, works for Darden Restaurants. He is attending Georgetwon University full-time in pursuit of his MBA, concentrating in International Business.

Dimitrius Dadakas, '97, finished his MA in Agriculture and Resource Economics at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville before returning to Greece. He has now earned his Ph.D. in welfare and trade economics from the University of Macedonias in Thessaloniki (UOM). He is working this year (2008-09) at City College in Thessaloniki (affiliated with the University of Sheffield) teaching mathematics and courses in econometrics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He is also the proud new father of a little girl.

Michael Thomas Gentile, '97, entered a master's program in economics at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Jennifer Heskett, '97, is currently a Programmer/Analyst for a retail jewelry company in the Chicago Loop.

Matt Mikulcik, '97, worked for Hewitt as a business analyst for two years. He then went to work as a statistician at Experian; he also went back to school on a part-time basis, earning an MS in Applied Statistics at DePaul. Matt worked in the marketing department of Discover Financial Services as the manager for all acquisition models. Currently, he is the Vice President of Customer and Marketing Initiatives and Analysis at Harris Bank in Bolingbrook, IL. He leads a team that is responsible for the analytics and modeling for Harris' consumer, business and health lines. Matt and his wife Sandy have two daughters, Claire and Maia Caroline.

Lee Poehlman, '97, is currently working at his company, Centraspect Inc., which provides consulting services to corporations seeking to improve their marketing automation technologies (Closed-Loop Marketing). Prior to forming his own company, Lee worked for Verizon in Dallas, Texas. At Verizon, Lee worked in the Database Marketing Group where he was responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of each Verizon marketing campaign. Lee has also worked toward his MS in Applied Economics at the University of North Texas, which he expected to complete in 2004.

Brett Roush, '97, is an Actuary at Trustmark Life Insurance Company and lives in Arizona. His responsibilities include summary financial reporting, RBC and ROC calculations, benefits plan design and pricing for 1300 employees, investment income, and cash flow forecasting.

Guerric Russell, '97, graduated from law school at Hofstra University and passed the New York Bar. He has since been admitted in the New Jersey Bar and the Federal Bars of the Southern District of New York and the New Jersey District Court. He is now practicing admiralty and maritime law at Nicoletti Hornig Campise & Sweeney, a mid-sized firm located in Wall Street.

Ashish K. Vohra, '97, is currently an Assistant Director in the Structured Credit and CDO group of the French investment bank Calyon in London. Ashish completed an MBA from Yale 2004 and before relocating to England interned for the TV show The Apprentice in New York City.

1996

Jay Ahrendt, '96, was previously a Financial Consultant and Accredited Asset Management Specialist for A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. He is now working for H&R Block Financial Advisors as Vice-President of Investments and Senior Financial Advisor. Jay lives in Palos Heights, IL with his wife Carrie (Teigeler '06) and their daughters Avery and Audrey.

Junaid Ahmed, '96, moved back to Bangladesh after graduation, where he spent 3 years working for a development agency raising funds for microcredit, education projects, and natural disasters. Currently, he is a radio journalist, producing programs in current affairs. He just completed a part-time Masters in International Relations. Junaid and his wife have a son, born in 2003.

Gwendolyn Alexander Tedeschi, '96, earned her Ph.D. in International Economics from the University of Maryland in 2001 and is now an Assistant Professor at Fordham University in New York City. She teaches principles of microeconomics and development economics at the undergraduate level and mathematical economics and development at the graduate level. She also conducts research and does academic and dissertation advising. Gwendolyn returned to IWU to give the 2006 ODE presentation on game theory.

Jesse Boyle, '96, is the CEO and founder of hospitality company with multiple units in the Chicago area.

Susan Brown Lanter, '96, worked for Philip Environmental, Inc. after graduation, and earned an MBA from Southern Illinois University--Edwardsville. She is now a senior analyst with Ameren Services. She leads web development projects, oversees work of junior developers, and designs, codes, and tests web-based applications. She and her husband, Matt, have two daughters, Abby, born in May 2002 and Molly, born in July 2006.

Faizal Chaudhury, '96, manages the Internal Audit Department at Stepan Company, a global specialty chemicals maker based in Northfield, Illinois. He is also responsible for leading the Company’s ongoing Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts. Previously, he had worked almost five years as as an auditor with Ernst and Young.Faizal and his wife have a son, born in September 2005.

Diana Imaka, '96, worked with the Latvian Privatization Agency, a company that worked with private investors interested in purchasing state-owned enterprises. Then, after an MBA at the City University Business School in London, she became a business consultant with Deloitte & Touche in Latvia. She is still in Latvia, working now as a business consultant in a company in which she is a partner.

Greg Jansen, '96, received his JD from the University of Minnesota Law School in May 1999. He is now an associate at Katten Muchin & Zavis in Chicago.

Kimberly Ann Nelson Lawson, '96, is a senior project manager at Hewitt Associates. She and her husband have two daughters, Miranda Rose and Noelle Elyse.

Laurel Martin Nicholson, '96, is an Associate at EnnisKrupp + Associates. She manages consulting assignments for a select number of the firm's retainer and project clients. She joined the firm in 1997.

Anne Peterson, '96, earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 2002. She is now an Assistant Professor of Policy Studies at the University of Washington, Bothell.

C. David Rudd, '96, earned his MS in foreign service from Georgetown University. He is now an Inside Sales Representative for Technology Builders.

Dan Scholz, '96, was a double major in Economics and Physics in the 3-2 engineering program. After three years here at IWU, he went to Washington University in St. Louis to finish his engineering degree and earn an MBA. He now works for NISA Investment Advisors, a St. Louis based asset management firm. Dan works on the trading desk, helping with portfolio management and analysis.

Angela Smith, '96, is now teaching English at a private language school in Osaka, Japan.

William Takahashi, '96, studied law at Boston University.

Ming Sun Wan, '96, is a Director in the Hong Kong office of UBS Warburg.

Ashley Wickrema, '96, is working as an IT consultant in Alexandria, VA. He is also pursuing a part time MBA degree.

1995

Mehmet Besceli, '95, is a trader in the equity division of ABN Amro Banks N.V., in Instanbul, Turkey.

Alpna Bhatia, '95, entered the Ph.D. program in Economics at the University of Colorado.

Brad Comincioli, '95, worked in the investments department at State Farm until April of 2003. During that time, he also earned both an MBA from the University of Illinois' weekend Executive program and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. In April 2003 he moved to Mason Street Advisors in Milwaukee, WI. They are an investments subadvisor working exclusively for the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network.

Niveditha Hasthak, '95, went on for an MA in economics at Tufts University after graduation from IWU. She then worked in management consulting for a couple of years before returning to India and working for Infosys Technologies Limited in Bangalore. She is now taking an extended career break.

Matt Jontry, '95, studied law at the University of Arizona College of Law in Tucson. He was one of only 15 first-year students selected as writers for the Arizona Law Review. He is now an associate in litigation with Snell & Wilmer, a large, regional law firm based in Phoenix. He passed the Arizona state bar examination and was sworn in in November 2001.

Kara Rocheleau Lazarus, '95, worked for General Mills before earning her MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1999. She became the Global Marketing and Communications Manager for American Medical Systems, Inc. Then in July 2005 she started an idea generation firm called Think Pink Idea Consulting LLC. She focuses on leading ideations, moderating groups, developing branding & positioning, and writing marketing plans.

Virginia Shull, '95, completed her law degree at the University of Illinois.

David Taylor, '95, works for State Farm Insurance Companies as a commercial account underwriter. He lives in Bloomington.

Joshua Yount, '95, is currently an associate at the law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. He graduated with honors from the University of Chicago Law School in 1998 and then served as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th circuit and as a law clerk for Circuit Judge Ann Williams.

1994

Ann Chalstrom, '94, graduated Order of the Coif and magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law in May 1997. She passed the Illinois Bar Exam in October 1997 and was in a two-year judicial clerkship for the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District.

Paul Dolan, '94, received his MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in May 2002. He has also received his Series 7 and Series 63 professional designations. Paul currently works for Irwin Mortgage Corporation as a Financial Analyst performing analysis of residential mortgage pricing and some corporate finance work.

Paul Halley, '94, worked for two years after graduation as a corporate account manager for Enterprise Rent-a-Car. He then went on for an MBA at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, graduating in 1998 with a dual concentration in Finance and Telecommunications/Electronic Commerce. He is now Vice President of SAP Consulting for BIS America. He is married to Diana Johnson Halley, '94.

Risa Kumazawa, '94, earned her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Texas at Austin after completing a Masters degree in Economics at Illinois State University. She taught at IWU for two years, helping out with both Introduction to Economics and Statistics.

Heidi Munson Merchant, '94, worked as an analyst for CILCO Enterprises in Peoria after completing her Masters degree in Economics at Illinois State University. She is now a Retail Business Analyst for BlueStar Energy Services.

Max Proano, '94, is the Senior Treasury Manager for the HBO Latin America Group. He received his Masters of Science and Information Assurance from Carnegie Mellon University in 1996.

Ossi Saarinen, '94, served a one-year stint in the Finnish army after graduation, and then went on for an MBA at Purdue. He graduated in May '97 and is now employed at United Technologies--Carrier Corporation.

Gnanika Suriarachchi Wijayaratne, '94, completed two Masters degrees, in Human Resource Management and Educational Human Resource Development, at Texas A&M University. She and her husband Ravi have bought their first home in San Jose, CA. They have two sons, Niviru, 4 years old, and Chehan, 1 year old. Gnanika left a position at ChevronTexaco, completed her Senior Professional in Human Resources Management Exam, and is now a stay-at-home mom. She planned to be back in the workforce when Chehan begins preschool.

Stacie-Ann Wiggan, '94, enrolled in the Masters in International Affairs program at Clark Atlanta University after graduation, earning an MIA with a concentration in International Trade and Development. She then returned home to Jamaica. Currently she works for the Jamaican Government as the Executive Assistant to the Minister of Health.

1993

B.J. Armstrong, '93, owns his own home-building company and builds homes in Bloomington.

Chris Bisaillon, '93, is regional vice president of Van Kampen Investments in Lincoln Park, Illinois. He also is part owner of 3 different businesses: Thorne Concrete LLC, High Point Estates and Golf Club, and Bisaillon Excavating.

Jeff Blend, '93, earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics at Michigan State University, specializing in environmental economics. Jeff works for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality as an economist in the Air, Energy, and Pollution Prevention Bureau. His responsibilities include economic analysis on environmental issues in Montana including mining, energy, transmission lines, renewable energy, and other development issues.

Brian Edge, '93, is currently employed as Division Manager at GE Commercial Finance, in the Chicago area.

Eric Kirchner, '93, has taught economics courses at ISU, at Heartland Community College, and here at IWU since graduation. He was a Visiting Instructor of Economics here at IWU from 1997 to 2002, teaching sections of both Introduction to Economics and Statistics.

David Marquardt, '93, is a product analyst for GMAC RFC in Minneapolis.

Yuet Wei Wan, '93, worked for Goldman Sachs for a number of years. She then took a position as a Vice President at Oaktree Capital Management in New York. Her position involved the emerging markets hedge, and she was responsible for the metals and mining, paper and steel sectors. Yuet Wei is currently a Portfolio Manager with Caxton Associates. She manages a global, emerging markets focused, long short equities portfolio.

1992

Sharique Ahmed, '92, enrolled in the Masters program at ISU after graduation, and then worked for 6 years as an Economist for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. He then returned to ISU for an MS in Computer Science. After earning his degree, Sharique worked for MBNA in Ottawa, Canada, for 2 years, and then relocated to Dallas, Texas, joining Deloitte Consulting as a management consultant in their CIO services area.

Paul Davies, '92,works at the Social Security Administration in Washington, DC. He is the Director of the Division of Policy Evaluation in the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics. His division is responsible for conducting research and policy evaluation on the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs. Much of the research focuses on program eligibility, program participation, economic well-being, and the distributional effects of Social Security programs and policies. Paul earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Colorado in 1996.

Colin Fitzgerald, '92, is now Managing Director for Robeco Investment Management, responsible for RIM's U.S. business in Europe.

Rahim Quazi, '92, pursued graduate studies in Economics at Southern Illinois University until 1993, when he transferred to the Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also spent one year as a visiting lecturer for North South University in Bangladesh during the course of his graduate work. He completed his Ph.D. in 1999. Rahim was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Knox College (1999-2000) and the University of Georgia (2000-2002). He has been Assistant Professor of Economics at Prairie View A&M University of Texas since 2002. In 2006 he received tenure at PVAMUT where he also serves as the Director for the Center of International Business Education.

Thomas Smith, '92, finished his Ph.D. in Economics and Public Policy Analysis at the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in cultural economics. He was then an Assistant Professor of Economics at National-Louis University, before returning to the University of Illinois at Chicago as Assistant Director of the Center for Economic Education and Assistant Professor of Economics.

Brenda Weil Bruno, '92, is a Bank Examiner with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She has been with the FDIC since graduation from IWU. Brenda assesses the finanical condition of individual banks and analyzes management's abilities. She and her husband Kevin enjoy traveling all over the world.

Ron Zimmer, '92, received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in December 1997. In August 1999 he began work as a Research Policy Analyst for RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA, and is now in Pittsburgh, PA. His primary research focus there is on educational policy. Ron and his wife Barb have a daughter named Julia.

1991

Larry Andretich, '91, reports that he is currently employed at Harris Bank as the Vice President and Business Deposit Product Manager. He also received his MBA from the University of Notre Dame in May of 2007.

Mark Israel, '91, received a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin before working in the research department at State Farm for several years. Mark then returned to graduate school at Stanford University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Economics.

After earning his degree, Mark took a position as an Assistant Professor of management and strategy at Northwestern's Kellogg School; he came back to IWU in Spring 2003 to give our Omicron Delta Epsilon address. Since then, Mark has moved into full-time consulting, with the economic consulting firm Compass Lexecon. Much of his work involves mergers. Last summer he moved to Washington DC as part of a promotion to Senior Vice President.

John L. Snyder, '91, received his J.D. from the University of Kansas Law School in 1994. John works for the national firm Sonnenschein, Nath, & Rosenthal. He manages the real estate department in their Kansas City office.

1990

Jane Chadesh Hedrich, '90, graduated from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in 1997. She works for NTT Communications as the Director of Strategic Marketing.

Daniel Perry, '90, worked as a national accounts manager for Cintas Corporation. He is now Vice President--Western Region Sales for Aramark Uniform Services.

1989

Eric Hardman, '89, is Vice President of Primera Mortgage in Berwyn.

Richard Koenig, '89, earned a Master of Urban Planning in 1991 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is currently working on a PhD in Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University and is Executive Director of Housing Opportunity Development Corporation, a non-profit organization promoting affordable housing in Chicago's northern suburbs.

1988

Alex Daniels, '88, was a double major in Economics and Philosophy at IWU. After holding a position as Manager of Finance for a GE engineering services business on the west coast, he returned to school in Philosophy. Alex earned an MA from San Francisco State and a Ph.D. at Loyola University in Chicago. Since July 1998, he has been a foreign service officer/diplomat for the U.S. State Department.

1986

Raymond Coleman, Jr., '86, is a teacher at the St. Francis de Sales School in Lake Zurich, Illinois.

1984

Steve Honegger, '84, received his MA in Economics from the University of Illinois, and worked, for a number of years, first for the state of Illinois in Springfield, and then for the state of Minnesota in St. Paul. His work focuses on education policy.

Mark Westbrook, '84, of Evanston, IL., has been a senior programmer/analyst at Neward Electronics in Chicago since 1997.

1983

Peter Berg, '83, earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Notre Dame, and is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Labor and Industrial Relations at Michigan State University.

1982

Eric Calhoun, '82 obtained an MBA and JD from the University of Illinois in 1987. He was an associate attorney at the New York office of Sherman & Sterling, and clerked for two federal judges. Eric has been practicing law in Dallas since 1991 and recently formed the law firm Travis & Calhoun. He specializes in business litigation and consumer class actions in various jurisdictions.

1980

Chuck Shelquist, '80, is currently a pastor at Onarga United Methodist Church. He earned his Masters of Divinity degree from the University of Dubuque Seminary in 1990. Prior to seminary, he worked for several years for Citizens Equity Federal Credit Union in Peoria.

Larry Stimpert, '80, earned his Ph.D. in Business Strategy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and then taught for several years at Michigan State. However, deciding that he wanted to get back into a liberal arts environment, he moved to Colorado College in 1996. There, he teaches courses in business organization and strategy in the Department of Economics and Business.

1979

James Fleming, '79, has worked as a plant manager for Jacony Corporation since September 1999.

1978

Scott Hubbard, '78, was appointed chair of the surface/groundwater committee of the Environmental Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan in fall 1997. The committee provides information and educational opportunities to members of the Environmental Law Section on a variety of legal issues concerning surface-water groundwater protection, including discharge permitting and environmental protection standards. Scott currently lives in Kentwood, MI.

Nils Lindskoog, '78, has published a second edition of his nonfiction book about Wall Street and investment banking in the 1980's. Long-Term Greedy: The Triumph of Goldman Sachs tells how one of Wall Street's top investment firms survived the junk-bond/takeover crazes of the tumultuous 1980's. He is a corporate-mergers-and-acquisitions professional.

1977

Jan Parsons Comerford, '77, was appointed pastor of the United Methodist Church in McHenry Illinois in July 2001. She and her husband Rob have one daughter.

Andrew Jaske, '77, earned his Ph.D. in Business Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He now lives in Colorado, where he is president of US Analytics, an independent consulting firm. Much of Andy's work concerns managing credit risk; Freddie Mac is an important client.

1972

Keith Ihlanfeldt, '72 earned his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1978. Keith has published widely on urban and regional issues, and he has served on the editorial boards of several economic and public policy journals. After many years on the faculty at Georgia State, he moved in 2000 to Florida State, where he is the DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics. Keith came back to IWU in spring 2000 to give our Omicron Delta Epsilon address.He is currently DeVoe Moore Eminent Scholar and Director of the DeVoe Moore Center at Florida State University.

1959

Dennis Stark, '59, has been named vice president for business and finance at the University of Rhode Island. After earning his MBA from the Harvard Business School and holding a Sanzay Fellowship in Economic Analysis and International Economics at Princeton University, he worked as a senior financial executive and banker for over 30 years.

1955

C. Howard Wampler, '55, has retired after having worked as state's attorney of Bureau County, IL, from 1964 to 1968, as associate judge from 1971 to 1974, and as circuit judge from 1974 to 1993.